Out On Blue Six: The Undertones

John Peel would have been eighty today.

It's impossible to find the words to mark such a momentous occasion or to remark upon the tragedy that he isn't here to celebrate it and to continue changing people's lives by introducing them to whole new worlds of music. So here instead is his favourite song

Teenage dreams, so hard to beat indeed. Happy birthday Peelie

End Transmission

Top of the Top of The Pops

Put out the bunting, take to the streets and cheer for tonight's 1985 edition of Top of the Pops on BBC4 is one fronted by John Peel and Janice Long.

Whilst I'll hazard a guess that no one ever really tuned in to Top of the Pops for the presenters, I like to think it was always a relief to see the topmost of the stable of DJ's, the creme de la creme of the presenting team, front the show. With Peel and Long, you are always in safe hands - two DJ's who were actually in possession of a personality and a sense of humour. Not for them the wince-inducing attempts at chemistry, charisma and wit that so many other Radio 1 DJ's showcased on Top of the Pops.  No, Peel and Long (along with Peel's regular partner Kid Jenson, before her) managed to amuse and entertain you whilst at the same time looking like they may have actually listened to some of the songs they were introducing.

Here's a run down of some of the worst Radio 1 DJ's who graced Top of the Pops from around that time that you're likely to see on BBC4 (ie those who haven't been found guilty of touching up young girls and those who have agreed to have their appearances repeated) To get into the mood, you might want to play Phil Lynott's TOTP theme Yellow Pearl as you read through this chart rundown:

Simon Bates

Was it just me or, when hosting Top of the Pops, did Simon Bates always have the air of a headmaster attempting to put on a genial face when confronted with the end of term school disco? 

Richard Skinner

Apart from his horrible dress sense, I didn't have much of a problem with Skinner until a recent episode where he started making 'wasn't that a load of old weird rubbish?' faces after Bowie's Loving The Alien video. Much later, on his show Sounds of the Suburbs, John Peel revealed that Skinner was going out with Sheena Easton in the '80s. The mind boggles.

Gary Davies

Or 'Ooh Gary Davies' as he was then known on account of his alleged pin up status for Radio 1 listeners. I fail to see it myself. Watch Davies deliver a link on TOTP and see how eerily dead-eyed he is. In a recent episode he disgraced himself by saying that his co-host the black DJ Dixie Peach was the only Radio 1 DJ with a better suntan than his own. There's a lot of those 'did I just hear right?' moments from 1980s TOTP, including one staggering one from last week's repeat provided by....

Steve Wright

I cannot tell you how much I hate this bloke. Here is a man who has been doing the same radio show, in the same slot, day in day out for three decades now with no sign of anyone recognising how irritating and dated it actually is. He must be a freemason, right? But no matter how dreadful Wright is on the radio, it's nothing compared to his irritating presence on TOTP. He seems constantly amused with himself, giggling away and shaking his head whilst co-presenters make their way through links. He has a series of irritating hand gestures that rival Mike 'pointy finger' Read and he has zero taste in music or sense of what makes a good song. Witness his claim that Nik Kershaw's Human Racing is the best single Kershaw made...which actually went on to become his lowest performing single. Or the time he freely admitted in his link to Billy Bragg's seminal Between The Wars had taken him three or four listens to understand. Worst of all was his introduction to Madonna's Get Into The Groove video on last week's repeat in which he called the singer 'everyone's favourite sleazebag' Again, another 'did I just hear right?' moment from '80s TOTP

But the absolute worst TOTP presenter from this period just has to be...

Mike Read

'Nuff said really, right?

Out On Blue Six: Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt with one of the best covers of all time. Knocks spots of the original by The Monkees, let's face it.

Just last month I read the very excellent David Cavanagh book Good Night and Good Riddance, which looks at how thirty five years of John Peel at Radio 1 helped shape modern life as we know it. Writing about Peel's Sounds of the Seventies show from 10th October 1974 - which featured Wyatt in session - Cavanagh relates a story I'd never heard before and which left me quite shocked. It concerns Wyatt's performance of this on Top of the Pops. On seeing Wyatt arrive in his wheelchair ahead of the performance, the show's producer, Robin Nash asked him if he could possibly sit in an ordinary chair when singing as Top of the Pops is 'a family show' (!) When that request was refused, Nash -according to Wyatt's guitarist Fred Frith - asked if they would 'cover the wheelchair completely' because he thought it 'was in bad taste and might upset viewers' (!!) 

Robin 'Mr Equality' Nash

Wyatt stuck to his guns and refused, earning a 'you'll never work in this town again' style comment from Nash (a ban from the show was effectively lifted by the time Wyatt troubled the charts again with Shipbuilding almost a decade later). The performance went out, but Nash ensured the camera operators kept wide shots to a minimum. 

Cavanagh concludes this chapter remarking that Britain was clearly and thankfully a very different place in 1974 than it is now, but adding that "It's a curious thing that a disabled singer was frowned upon and a spinal injury taboo, but it was perfectly acceptable to feign psychopathy as long as you looked like Hitler" as in the case of Sparks' Ron Mael. I'd also add that it was perfectly acceptable for Top of the Pops presenters to grope young girls live on air and for cameramen to get as many upskirt shots of said girls as possible too.

Strange days indeed. It goes without saying that Cavanagh's book is heartily, emphatically recommended. 

End Transmission

Great Scot

Poet, songwriter, humourist, actor (The Magical Mystery Tour's Buster Bloodvessel, see bottom row, far right below) great eccentric, John Peel favourite and the man whose image Pope Francis has clearly stolen; Ivor Cutler.

I'm Happy by Ivor Cutler

Ivor Cutler, 1923 - 2006

Out On Blue Six : A Guy Called Gerald

Manchester vibes in the area!

Though to be honest as much as it was a Madchester hit its origins were elsewhere ....

"This is on the Rham label and basically it's another very good dance record. I like the mystery and anonymity that surrounds a lot of these records. Plus the fact that Rham are based in New Brighton. I spent a great deal of time there as a child and I think it's marvellous there should be a record label there"

-John Peel, NME 22nd Oct 1988

End Transmission

2013 or 2002 or 1974?

I struggled with getting a calendar this year.

My sister actually very kindly bought me one for Christmas that she thought that I'd like. It was a Doctor Who calendar for the most recent series.

Frankly, it was a little immature for me I'm afraid. With that hanging in my room I'd look like I belonged either on a register or on the autism spectrum at the very least!

Still, the thought that counts eh?

Not to be put out I came across this excellent website 

http://whencanireusethiscalendar.com/

Which tells you when you can reuse an old calendar. 

Now thankfully I'm something of a hoarder and have kept a 2002 calendar; one of The Avengers, with lots of lovely Diana Rigg photos! So that'll do for me.

But also in my study I've a huge framed pull out from Sounds magazine with DJ and music journalist John Peel posing as their 'skoolgirl of the year' (!) for the year ahead, 1974

A close inspection of it yesterday revealed that the dates for 1974 match with 2013

So I'm rather chuffed now to be able to go off that for the year!

Well, I did always say I live in the 70s haha

Witch Hunt

Slightly annoyed today to read that the fat poisonous hack Julie Birchall - she who considers Jordan a good role model for teenage girls - has decided to use the Jimmy Savile scandal to bring out an axe she's had to grind for some time regarding legendary DJ John Peel.

In today's The Scum,  ahem I mean The Sun, she points out 'the facts' about Peel's paedophilia, namely the fact that his first wife the tragic Texan Shirley Anne Milburn (who committed suicide in 1973) was 15 when he married her in 1965, Dallas. It's worth pointing out however that in Texas the legal age of consent was 13. Hardly against the law then is it? Peel was always open about this time in life, recording it in his autobiography years later - long after thirty+ years of wedded bliss with the mother of his children I hasten to add. 

She also records how Peel received oral sex from one fan in America in the early 60s who, as Peel explained in 1989, 'turned out to be 13...though she looked much older' What paedophile admits that? How many rock stars, DJ's, actors, whatever have had sex with a girl without asking their age??

I'm surprised she didn't bring up the occasional comment Peel made about schoolgirl uniforms to continue her low blows of blank ammo. This was something that Python Graham Chapman would also wax lyrical about, albeit his penchant was for schoolboys. Chapman even 'adopted' a boy....yet the accusing finger rarely gets levelled at him, it's just accepted that was how it was. Ditto Bill Wyman and his long term relationship with the then 13 year old Mandy Smith. Why is that?

Savile was a monster who needed outing. Now he's dead, it's far too late to bring him to proper justice but I hope that his victims who have for so long suffered in silence get some peace and sense of justice in the time to come.

Peel on the other hand is to my mind utterly innocent and, as a dead man, it is unfair that such slander is being thrown at him, as he cannot defend himself. The plain truth is Birchall has never liked him and this is just another article in a series of mud slinging works regarding him by her. If I'm wrong I'll stand corrected, but I don't think I am.

The Books What I Wrote

It all came about four years ago. I'd met a rather clever chap on Myspace (what became of that?) called Nick Donald (what became of him?) We found we had a lot in common, a love of a good thriller, an infatuation with the 1960s and a desire to write. So that's just what we did, and in 2009 we wrote two back to back 60s set thrillers under the mysterious pen name Manik (Mark and Nick see?) entitled Guido's Children and Summer Of Hate both concerning Jonathan Strange, Special Branch's counter culture expert known as The Psychedelic Policeman. 

Here's the gist of each novel.

Guido's Children - London. October 1968. Civil unrest and violent demonstrations is overthrowing the original notion of peace and love amongst the young. Britain's Security Services are thrown into confusion by the emergence of cryptic messages all over the swinging capital from a group known only as Guido's Children. But who or what are they? Detective Inspector Jonathan Strange - known throughout Special Branch as The Psychedelic Policeman due to his affinity with 1960s popular culture - is dispatched to investigate, and finds a link between the messages and a mysterious death in one of the countries top public schools. With help from beautiful psychologist Dr Samantha Chase, Strange stumbles across murder and treachery dating back thousands of years culminating in a grand scheme to topple Britain's old order in a bloodthirsty coup. A love letter to the 60s, Guido's Children takes us into the heart of Swinging London and shows the seedy, bloody underbelly of a British seat of learning.

Summer Of Hate - London, August 1969. A balmy summer is not the only thing hotting up in the final throes of the swinging decade. There is also conflict. It is conflict that threatens to shatter, irrevocably, the hopes of a generation for peace and love...When an anonymous phone call claims responsibility for a number of random acts of violent terrorism, Britain's police force is thrown into panic. Detective Inspector Jonathan Strange soon realises he is facing his toughest challenge yet, as old friends and colleagues get caught in the firing line. Reuniting with half French/half Scottish psychologist Dr Samantha Chase, Strange finds himself on a journey on violence and deceit that stretches from the capital to a remote Scottish island and a sinister commune known as Wonderwall.

It was The Avengers meets Bond Meets Doomwatch meets Ipcress meets anything that was worth watching in the 60s with cameos from such people as John Ridge, John Peel, The Magical Mystery Tour's Wendy Winters and even Blue Peter's John, Valerie, Peter and Shep (!) to name but a few.

We self published via Lulu and sold on their and on both Amazon, UK and US. We even got some good reviews and feedback too. A third was planned, but the steam went. As did the initial print run and now the books are no longer in print. If you did buy them, and a few did, keep a hold of them. They're as rare as rocking horse shite now. I myself only have one copy of each.

We Can Be Heroes

An occasional and random look at some heroes of mine

Number 4: John Peel

For any muso, John is a hero.

This week marks the launch of John Peel's vinyl archive online and interactive at http://thespace.org/items/s000004u

It does the great man proud and is worth checking out.

John Peel Top Of The Pops

People are right to bemoan the loss of Top Of The Pops, but let's not forget that in actuality it was full of inane music and even more inane DJ presenters like Mike Read and DLT 'The Hairy Git' (yes I know the nickname was actually 'The Hairy Cornflake' but let's face it, 'Hairy Git' is more accurate) 

Be thankful then that for a brief time in the 1980s the convivial party atmosphere was mercilessly lampooned and ruined by a misanthropic Scouser, the kind who'd rifle through your CD and vinyl collection and dismiss it as rubbish and be found in the kitchen (where he may have broken wind, simply because The Mighty Wah haven't reached number 1) Yes it was the genius that was John Peel; and if Top Of The Pops ever came back now, the show would be a sadder place for not having someone so effortlessly brilliant and piss taking as him...we'd probably have to put up with a third rate comic, Rufus Hound anyone? Please God no!

Here are just a few highlights of John's reign....

John Peel, much missed and, like the lyric from his favourite song, so hard to beat.

Art For Art's Sake : My Drawings and Paintings.

Two pencil drawings today (I did them both in 2008 I see, time flies!) each of the great DJ, much missed John Peel

At Glastonbury

In the 1960s

I adore this man. He lived for music and that's something I can relate to.